Computers, Too, Can Give Away Location

By

Amir Efrati And

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries

Updated April 27, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

Google Inc. and Apple Inc. collect and store location information from personal computers, as well as mobile devices, according to company executives, a disclosure that sheds new light on the scope of the data collected by tech companies.

Apple gathers information from some Apple Macintosh computers connected to Wi-Fi networks, and Google collects data from Wi-Fi-connected computers that use Google's Chrome browser or search...